1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates generally to file identification. More particularly, the present application relates to a computer implemented method, system, and computer usable program code for identifying files and the directories where the files are stored in for easier retrieval of the files.
2. Description of the Related Art
In computing, a file system is a method for storing and organizing computer files and the data the computer files contain to make it easy to find and access the computer files. File systems may use a storage device, such as a hard disk or CD-ROM, and involve maintaining the physical location of the files, or the file systems may be virtual and exist only as an access method for virtual data or for data over a network.
More formally, a file system is a set of abstract data types that are implemented for the storage, hierarchical organization, manipulation, navigation, access, and retrieval of data.
The most familiar file systems make use of an underlying data storage device that offers access to an array of fixed-size blocks, sometimes called sectors, generally 512 bytes each. The file system software is responsible for organizing these sectors into files and directories, and keeping track of which sectors belong to which file and which are not being used.
However, file systems may not make use of a storage device at all. A file system can be used to organize and represent access to any data, whether it be stored or dynamically generated.
Whether the file system has an underlying storage device or not, file systems typically have directories which associate file names with files, usually by connecting the file name to an index into a file allocation table of some sort, such as the File Allocation Table (FAT) in an Microsoft® Disk Operating System (MS-DOS) file system, or an inode in a Unix®-like file system. Directory structures may be flat, or allow hierarchies where directories may contain subdirectories. In some file systems, file names are structured, with special syntax for filename extensions and version numbers. In others, file names are simple strings, and per-file metadata is stored elsewhere.
While file systems provide an easier means to find and access the computer files, storing an unread or important file within the file system may cause finding the computer files at a later time more difficult. Thus, marking files and the directories where the files are stored will provide for easier retrieval of the files.